NTSB Rules That Drones Are “Aircraft”

Flying a drone over the University of Virginia for the purpose of taking commercial photographs of the university may cost the drone operator $10,000 for violating the Federal Aviation Administration’s prohibition against flying “aircraft” in a reckless or careless manner.  (Allegedly the drone operator scared the bejesus out of someone by flying the drone “directly towards an individual standing on a . . . sidewalk causing the individual to take immediate evasive maneuvers so as to avoid being struck by [the] aircraft”; “through a . . . tunnel containing moving vehicles”; “under a crane”; “below tree top level over a tree lined walkway”; “under an elevated pedestrian walkway”; and “within approximately 100 feet of an active heliport.”) 

Read the rest of this entry »